China Afforested Area: World First
On March 12, 1999, Chinese people celebrated their 20th National Treeplanti ng Day. Than ks to tree planting efforts, Chinas afforested area has increased to 33.79 mill ion hectares, ranking the first in the world. Chinas current forest coverage a lso went up to 13.92%.
However, China is still a country of insufficient forest resources with its fore st coverage being only half of the world average (27%) and per capita forested a rea of 0.12 hectare, less than one fifth of the world average (0.64 hect are).
Chinese peoples painstaking efforts of last 2 decades have made the country wi t ness remarkable progress in greening its mountains and land. The promulgation of Forest Law has established the legal position of forestry in national economy. Chinese peoples environmental protection awareness has been greatly enhanced.
In China, afforestation approaches and means have been diversified with major de velopment for air born seeding and tree growing in closed mountain environment. There are about 12 provinces in the country including Guangdong, Fujian, Hunan, Zhejiang, Hubei, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Shandong, Anhui, Hainan, Jiangsu and Jilin t hat have basically wiped out barren land and mountains.
Compulsory tree planting canpaign continue to develop. Launched in 1982, the nat ional volunteer tree planting campaign has attracted the participation of 5 billion person/time with 2 billion trees planted per year.
The ten major forestry projects also witnessed smooth advance. Ten major biological framework projects headed by the socalled "Three north" forest wind break project have a planned area of 7.056 million km2, 7３.5% of the nations total territories, covering major soil erosion and sand stricken areas in the country. It m akes the main part of the construction of China forestry ecology.
Commercial forest bases have developed well with the integrated growth of timber forests, bamboo forests, economic forests, fuel forests, flowers and forest tourism, which has created a bright perspective for the integrated development of forestry production and poverty alleviation.
Third World Network ScienceAgriculture Award for Shenyang Applied Ecology Institute,The Executive Committee of Third World Network Science Organization (TWNSO)announced not long ago that its 1998 Agriculture Award will be conferred to the study group on forest breaks for protecting farming land with Institute of Shenyang A pplied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Founded in 1988, TWNSO is a nongovernmental organization with 147 members from 74 countries. Its objective is to promote sustainable economic development of de ve loping countries. Started from 1990, two awards were created by the organization , namely "TWNSO Agriculture Award"and "TWNSO Technology Award" conferred once every two years.
Started from the 1960s, the study group on forest breaks for protecting farming land with Institute of Shenyang Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, ha v e conducted systematic studies on the theory and techniques of growing tree brea ks to protect farming land and created theory of forest breaks and an integrated management and technical system of forest break planning, designing, afforesta tion and operation. The group also established methodology system for assessing the theory and benefits of construction of forest breaks and 13 demonstration a nd experimental sites of different natures have been built as well. The Institu te have published four m onographs and a hundred and more papers on land protecting forest breaks. In th e last decade their research results had been granted with 13 national or minist erial awards for science and technology advance.
DNA Application in "Silk Road" Study
tudies of the renowned ancient "Silk road" running through Xianjiang are expec ting further breakthroughs. Recently Shanghai Nature Museum and Institute of Genetic s, Fudan University have launched a joint study which has for the first time i n the country applied DNA techniques in analyzing and identifying mans skeleto ns unearthed on the road and has achieved initial result.
As briefed by experts from the Institute, so far they have successfully extracte d 5 mitochondria DNA from 10 skeletons of ancient Hami man lived 3200 years ago which were affored by shanghai Nature Museum and acquired some interesting secti ons with the help of PCR t echniques. The results will go for further testing, sequencing and comparison.
Mr. Xu Yongqing, Director, of the Anthropology Dept. in Shanghai Nature Museum a nd Chai rman of Board of Directors of Shanghai Anthropology Society said that the study is of importance in clarifying some complicate issues such as the
ethnic relationships, the po pulation movement and merging on the ancient silk road, the world known vital li ne of trading and communications between east and west.
In the past, paleoanthropological approaches used to identifying sexes, age, bod y fea tures and the community origins of ancient corps were confined to measuring an d sight observation. But these approaches were with large limitation.
Recent years have seen the international applications of mature PCR and DNA sequ ence techniques in studying paleoanthropological community relationship and popu lation movement, which has led to creat of a new molecule anthropology.
The said joint efforts of Shanghai Nature Museum and Fudan University on multipl e DNA paleoanthropological analysis of silk roads will be of importance to impro ving Chinas anthropological skeleton studies to the molecule level and utilizi ng and protecting genetic resources of Chinas ancient skeletons.
It is reported that in the next half of this year or in a longer period of time, Fudan University will carry out indepth and extensive studies on the skeleton s and the dried corpses of ancient Hami and Tulufan man so as to collect more sc ientific data.
China Screening Cotton Seeds with Linters
Not long ago, Hebei Provincial Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences have for the fir st time in the country realized screening cotton seeds with linters with their o wn developed cotton seeds balling techniques and equipment. The Institute has a lso f or the first time in the world developed consecutive cotton seed balling techniq ues, which promotes the machanization of cotton production and increase cott on yield.
As briefed by senior engineers Mr. Mi Shuangshan and Mr. Zhao Sishen, the seeds balling is a special technique through which seeds are coated with necess ary mixture of nutritional and mineral elements, plant growth regulators, pesticide and microbe s i n glutinous base according to seeds quality, external factors affecting seed spr o uting, possible diseases and soil richness.
They have also developed a equipment which is able to proce ss cotton s eeds with linters. The seeds treated with the said techniques have demonstrated richness and even sprouting. The balling coats left in the soil after sproutin g may serve the root a fine environment for future growth in which mineral and e ner gy supply could be lasted for longer time, while pesticide effects and resistanc e to a dverse environment enhanced. Direct screening cotton seeds without going through linter free process may help reduce the cost of balling process and avoid envir onmental pollution and possible seed damage caused by linter free chemicals. I t may also make seeds more of resistance to diseases, low or high temperature an d produce more yield. Experiments have shown that the application of the equipm ent and techniques may reach about 10% of yield increase. In addition, seeds wi th linters may become larger and rounder after balling and make seed fluidity and s eeding control process easier and more accurate, which in turn will lead to ec onomical use of seeds and labor, cost reduction and machanization of cotton pr oduction.
China's 80 Billion Investment in Environmental Protection
In 1998 China had further enhanced its input in environmental protection with a t otal investment of Rmb 80 billion, exceeding 1% of its GNP for the first time in the nations history.
Mr. Xie Zhenhua, Administrator of State Bureau of Environmental Protecti on, said at the National Conference on Environmental Protection that last year had seen Rmb 24.42 billion invested in pollution control and Rmb 56 billion in urba n environmental infrastructure development. These funds are mainly used in urban air pollution control, water body contamination control and prevention such as for Huaihe River, Taihu Lake, Songhuajiang River and others main rivers and lakes.
During the 8th FiveYear Plan period, Chinas investment in environment al protec tion reached nearly Rmb 40 billion, 0.8% of its GNP. Mr. Xie added that Nationa l Development Bank, China Industrial and Commercial Bank, China Construction Ban k an d other financial institutions have listed major industrial pollution control pr ojects as priority loan targets. He ordered environmental departments at differ en t levels to strive for more input in environmental protection through diversifie d channels, secure loans from financial institutions and actively attract foreig n capital.
Large Ecological Forests in Yellow River Delta
It is reported that starting from 1999 Shandong Province will grow 1.2 million m u (15 mu is equal to one hectare) of ecological forests over the Yellow Rive r delta in 5 years.
Yellow River delta, physically located in the territory of Shandong Province, is a n area enjoying rich land resources. The development of Yellow River delta is o ne of two transcentury projects proposed by Shandong Province. Unfortunately, the fragile ecological environment in which salinealkali soil has prevented trees f rom growing has affected the development speed. It is briefed that Shandong Pro vince plan to input Rmb 240 million in the construction of the large ecological forests and will invest Rmb 48 million in afforestation of 240,000 mu this y ear. The whole afforestation package for the delta will be completed by 2003.
It is reported that the said large ecological forest will be created on an area of 4 million mu located at the tail of the delta and along the banks of ancient course of the Yellow River. Forestry researchers in Shandong have found the tree spe cies suitable for growing in this region such as locust trees white wintersweets and Chinese tamarisks.
Expedited Environmental Protection Efforts in China
Mr. Xie Zhenhua, Administrator of State Bureau of Environmental Protection, sai d that China will take environmental issues which have impacts on whole situatio n and peoples health as the major focus of environmental protection efforts th is year.
Mr. Xie said at the opening of National Environmental Protection Conference on M arch 13, 1999 that major objec tives of this year will be on major pollutants discharge control in diffe rent regions of the country, industrial pollution meeting national stan dards, maj or cities meeting national standards on air and water environmental quality, an d improving the environmental quality of the major cities, regions, and sea area s so as to ensure the steady improvement of nations environmental safety and quality.
Mr. Xie added that we should list a number of our efforts such as major pollutan ts discharge control in different regions of the country, industry pollution mee ting national standards and major cities meeting national standards on air and water environmental quality as target responsibility system of government at different levels and enforce the system prefecture by prefecture, city by city and enterprises by enterprise and strengthen the monitoring and sup ervision. Meanwhile, when observing strictly in approving new proje cts and avoiding new pollution sources, pollution control for old enterprises sh all be tightened up, obsolete techniques and equipment outdated and close small enterprises with serious pollution according to law.
This year will see 80% and more of major enterprises in coastal areas and 70% an d above enterprises in middle and west regions meet the national standards on po llutants discharge.
Mr. Xie underlined the environmental protection of Beijing Municipality by sayin g that Beijing shall continue to enforce the use of low sulfur and dust coal and clean fuel, outdating unqualified motor vehicles, control of secondary dust emi ssion caused by construction, road activities and repairing river courses so as to greatly improve the environmental quality of the city before October 1st, Chinas National Day.
Referring to acid rain and sulfur dioxide polluted areas, Mr. Xie said that outp ut re striction and closedown practices shall be continuously applied to high sul fur coal mines, establishing new coal burning power plant near major cities prohibit ed and the existing small power generation sets obsoleted.
Mr. Xie asked environmental protection departments at different levels to streng then ecological environment protection and unified monitoring and management and to practice rescue protection to special ecological functional zones such as or igins of rivers, major lakes and wetlands.
He said that special ecological functional zones of origins of Yellow River and Yangt ze River shall be demarcated so as to strengthen the management in these areas; p rotection should be enforced according to law on the development and exploration of key resources such as mines, forests and pastureland; check and avoid ne w ecological damages caused during resources exploration and actively protect tho se hea lthy ecological areas and strengthen the monitoring and prewarning of those ecol ogically vulnerable areas.
Mr. Xie also disclosed his concrete plan and requirements on pollu tion control and prevention in Dianchi Lake, Chaohu Lake, Taihu Lake, Huaihe Ri ver, Haihe River, Liaohe River and Bohai Sea at the Conference.
Chinas New Auto Emission Standards
Chinese State Quality and Techniques Monitoring Bureau recently published 4 new national standards on auto emission which is said 80% stricter than the old one s.
The four new standards are: "Limits on auto vehicle pollutants emission and as so ciated measuring methods","Limits on pollutants emission of compression igniti on engines and auto vehicles equipped with compression ignition engines and associated measuring methods","Limits on visible pollutants emission of compre ssio n ignition engines and auto vehicles equipped with compression ignition engines and associated measuring methods"and"Net work measuring methods for auto engines." The former three ones are national standards for enforcement and the las t one is a recommended national standard.
New standards are stipulated on the basis of similar regulatory system defined b y European Economic Committee of the United Nations so as to make China's auto emission be in line with the level which had been reached by Europe in the earl y 1990s. The pro mulgation and enforcement of new standards will improve Chinas existing auto emission standard system a complete one and make the standard number and tec hnical requiremen ts be in line with international standards.
To leave some room for Chinese auto industry to get prepared to develop corresp onding products, the enforcement date of new standards will be postponed to Janu ary 1st , 2000. On the enforcement date, newly produced autos shall meet the ne w st andards. The four new standards can also be applied to auto vehicles using liqu efied petroleum gas and compressed natural gas.
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